Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0246 - Minds and Machines: A Ludo-Philosophical Journey into Artificial Intelligence

Can computers think? Are they capable of creating great art? Could they ever appreciate things like beautiful music, a funny joke, or a philosophical paradox? Could a machine ever become conscious? Could it have a soul? If questions such as these intrigue you, then this just might be the course for you! Our approach will be experimental and playful, joining together readings/discussions with adventures in computer programming through which we will create models and simulations of the concepts we are exploring, with the aim of better understanding them. Some of the topics and projects for the semester include the art of M.C. Escher, the music of John Cage, the Turing Test, machine translation, Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, Zen Buddhism, AI ethics, and bio-simulation. No knowledge of programming is required; programming will be taught from the absolute beginner level. Students should expect to spend 8 hours per week outside of class reading, writing, and developing their coding skills Keywords:Technology, Coding, Philosophy, AI, Art

Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time Books: Title:Goedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Author:Douglas R. Hofstadter ISBN:978-0-465-02656-2 Cost:$24.99